1/2/13 12:43 PM EST

Andrew Sullivan, one of the most famous bloggers in news media, has announced that he and his staff are leaving The Daily Beast and launching an independent site supported by financial contributions from readers.

"[L]ast week, the three of us signed an agreement setting up an independent company called Dish Publishing LLC, and agreed to strike out on our own with no safety net below us but you," Sullivan wrote today.

"[W]e felt more and more that getting readers to pay a small amount for content was the only truly solid future for online journalism," he wrote. "And since the Dish has, from its beginnings, attempted to pioneer exactly such a solid future for web journalism, we also felt we almost had a duty to try and see if we could help break some new ground."

Sullivan's contract was up at The Daily Beast and, according to sources familiar with his contract, he was costing Tina Brown's news site a fair bit of money. In a tweet following the announcement, Brown wrote that she was "sad to see him go, but wishing @SullyDish all the best!"

Sullivan's new site will be hosted at an ad-free www.andrewsullivan.com, with a proposed contribution of $19.99 a year, or $1.67 a month.

"So it's over to you. We're in your hands," Sullivan wrote. "The meter won't start until February 1, but you can become a member now. It takes two minutes tops. All you need is a credit card and a zip code - and you're done. The more of you who decide to contribute more than $19.99 the deeper and richer and more ambitious a Dish we will be able to provide. We have no marketing, no ads, no corporation behind us now. We only have you."